CRN posts letter to the editor that JAMA declined to publish

By Michael Johnsen

WASHINGTON — The Council for Responsible Nutrition on Tuesday posted a letter to the editor challenging an article critical of dietary supplements that was published July 5 and in the July 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

JAMA had declined to publish the letter, CRN reported.

"In his July 5 article about regulatory and public health issues relating to dietary supplements, communications professor Bryan Denham offers up an inaccurate history of dietary supplement regulation, which unfortunately readers may accept at face value," opened Annette Dickinson, former president and current consultant for CRN. "This short letter will address only a few of the more egregious factual errors."

In the letter, Dickinson challenges several statements regarding the history of dietary supplement regulation. "Denham is entitled to his own opinion about dietary supplements, but he is not entitled to his own version of the facts," Dickinson concluded. "He calls for a more sophisticated discussion of the regulatory issues and public health concerns relating to dietary supplements, but his article fails to contribute to that end."

For a full account of the letter and the factors that led up to CRN's posting of the letter online, click here.